Lifestyle photographer Tim Cole explores more emotion in his work

Surface doesn't sell

What lies beneath makes me fire
Images that last seem complex, they leave you with questions and stir emotions that aren't always obvious at first glance. Images that last in the memory have depth—a distant gaze, a sideways glance or a revealed ego. Surface isn’t enough for me, surface doesn’t sell, a simple smile can be so much more. I want to capture complexity, evocative and suggestive, a sense of something underneath. I want to dig out raw truths and never just settle for what sits in view. I want deeper, different, visceral, complex and real. This is what I love, this is my lens and what makes me fire.

My previous life inspires me
I have always worked for brands. For many clients and many years I worked at Saatchi & Saatchi—pushing visual worlds and attitudes. Searching for something different, something new—doing the hard miles, picking things apart and then putting them back together, tweaking or reinventing for the God-like feeling of it all. Blood, sweat and late night takeaways—it’s etched in my creative history. Building powerful brands was exhausting and exhilarating and it meant everything to me. I look back on my agency life and know the experience has really shaped my creative eye. To really look and how important it is to push for relevant difference. To be at the front of the creative process in pre-production and the critical importance of great art direction. Assembling amazing teams, pooled knowledge of production, art direction photography and film with a belief that the commercial world needs emotional complexity. This is how I work as a lifestyle photographer and director today.